OMRRA’s McDonough Takes Over Championship Lead With Two Formula Ultra Wins at Portland International Raceway

Sunny skies greeted racers for the third round of the OMRRA season at Portland International Raceway with the weekend’s racing delivering on excitement and drama.

In KFG Racing-sponsored Formula Ultra action, the OMRRA overall championship title contenders were tasked with squaring up against formidable Californian, Lenny Hale. In Saturday’s racing action, Hale immediately placed himself in a five-rider freight train battle for the lead with regular front-runners Devon McDonough, Sam Verderico, Andy DiBrino, and Kevin Pinkstaff. Points leader DiBrino suffered a mechanical on the third lap of the race with McDonough and Hale taking that as a queue to gap the field. McDonough withstood the pressure from veteran Hale and took the win. Verderico came under increased pressure from Pinkstaff in the closing laps and successfully managed to hold him off for third position. McDonough would repeat with another victory in Formula Ultra on Sunday with Hale chasing at a blistering pace. DiBrino put in an inspired ride against the 1000cc machines on his 600cc backup machine, collecting a fifth-place finish to collect as many championship points he could salvage. Ultimately, he was overtaken in OMRRA’s overall championship points by McDonough, who placed a stamp of authority on his dominance by winning Open Supersport and Open Superbike to complete a clean sweep of the 1000cc classes on the weekend, including nearly breaking the lap record along with Hale in their fight for the win in Open Superbike. After a strong start to the season from DiBrino, McDonough has served notice of his intentions to claim OMRRA’s coveted #1 plate.

The chase in the EDR Performance Clubman Championship heated up this past weekend with numerous riders moving up and down the leader board. In 600cc and 750cc action, proving that championship chases don’t always go to plan, DiBrino posted another mechanical DNF in Saturday’s Zlock Racing-sponsored 600 Supersport race. With DiBrino absent McDonough cruised to an easy. Down but not out, DiBrino rebounded and with fierce determination doubled his determination by sweeping the 600 SuperBike, 750 Supersport, and 750 Superbike classes in dominating fashion ahead of McDonough. Both riders dazzled spectators backing their 600’s into Portland’s Festival Chicane in one of the most exciting races of the 2014 season.

In the battle of the middleweights, dominated by the Suzuki SV650, tight battles brought the crowds to their feet. In Middleweight Supersport, Josh Melanson and Peter Kahn jumped out to a sizable lead but a last lap lunge by Kahn saw him overshoot the chicane allowing Melanson to continue on for the win. Kahn was able to rejoin and claim the second step on the podium with Derek Stotz taking third. The GP Twins race saw Patrick Leyshock use the low end grunt of his 1978 Suzuki GS1000 to get the holeshot with Kahn in close pursuit through the chicane. The pair led the first half of the race swapping positions until the returning Brian Osborne worked his way up from the back of pack on his Ducati 748. Brian would go on to win the race with Kahn fending off a last lap challenge from Josh Melanson who had also bested Leyshock in the waning laps of the race. Kahn jumped out to an early lead with the holeshot in the Middleweight Superbike race with Patrick Leyshock and Derrick Edwards in line. Kahn put his head down pulled off the win by over 11 seconds with Leyshock and Edwards fending off numerous challenges the remainder of the race. In the middleweight finale of the weekend, Michael Caravatta having sorted out his Aprilia and stole the show taking the win while Leyshock surprised Kahn at the line with a last second draft pass.

In the Ultra Lightweight classes, the chicane made for some spectacularly close racing. Saturday's hotly contested Ninja 250 cup saw Washington’s Philip Melnyk set the pace winning both races and take the overall first for the day. After a big crash last round left her without a bike, Kelly Johnson managed to stay in the hunt for points sweeping second place on a rented Ninja 250, with Alex Taylor taking third for the day. Sunday continued to entertain with the 30 minute Ultra Lightweight GP consisting of mostly Ninja 250's entering the chicane four wide for 21 laps! Austin McCabe ran away at the front to first leaving Alex Taylor and Jacob Keiner to battle for second and third respectively. Andrew Pignataro returned to Lightweight Supersport and Lightweight Superbike on a KTM 520 powered Honda NSR. Travis Gardner, piloting a KTM 640 Supermoto, finished second with Robert Wortman taking third. Canadian Jason "On The" Gasparinatos took second edging out Melnyk.

By the end of the weekend, the EDR Performance Clubman Championship was turned upside down with four middleweight riders occupying four of the top 10 spots. Peter Kahn jumped 3 places to lead the championship 5 points ahead Andy DiBrino. In an ultimate showing of sportsmanship, the OMRRA paddock chipped in to make sure Kelly Johnson stayed in the chase by raising funds to rent her a bike for the weekend. You can expect more surprises in this championship as the season heads into the second half.

The Langlitz Leathers Vintage Championship group welcomed the chicane and the racing was fast and furious. Ryan Shanahan dominated Lightweight Vintage, with Mica Grohn and OMRRA newcomer Donnie Stiff of Utah completing the podium. Damon Velocitas, Rodney Bender, Jared Kenyon, and Andy Hudock battled it out towards the back with Velocitas retiring early with a mechanical in the day's second race. The Middleweight Vintage race saw veteran racer Eirik Neilsen run away with two wins with intense action in the battle for second between Mica Grohn and Jared Kenyon. Grohn's phenomenally fast Honda twin was nearly matched by Kenyon's Rickman-framed Montesa. The pair battled wheel-to-wheel and on the brakes into the chicane lap after lap. Grohn eclipsed Kenyon in both races taking second with Kenyon third. Grohn takes over the championship from Nielsen by 5 points as the vintage squadron heads to the latter half of the season. OMRRA's Vintage Day is scheduled for Saturday, 16 August, and is shaping up to be a good one. With many local clubs and motorcycle businesses participating this festival of smallbore flat-track racing, field games, bike shows, GPz550 races, Vintage Superbikes promises to be among the best vintage motorcycle racing celebrations in the nation.

The Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMRRA) developed the two-race per weekend Formula Ultra Championship, the ‘your best two classes’ Clubman Championship and the two-race per day, Olympic-scored Vintage Championship, promoting safe, competitive road racing in all categories. OMRRA, incorporated in 1972 as a non-profit, volunteer run organization, has members ranging in age from 12 to over 70, racing motorcycles of many brands, sizes and ages. OMRRA operates at Portland International Raceway, a city park and world class track. For more information, visit www.omrra.com and join us at www.facebook.com/omrra.racing